Felder's Role in Writing Hotel California

[Freypower]

The Eagles list 'Henley/Frey' just as the Beatles listed 'Lennon/McCartney'. I have never wished to read anything significant into this. That is just the order their names are listed. On LROOE however, What Do I Do With My Heart is listed as 'Frey/Henley'. This is a first.

[Topkat]

With Lennon/McCartney there is some kind of legal agreement, which is why Yoko made such a fuss about it. I doubt the Eagles have such agreement but we don't know for sure. Generally, name listed first wrote more of the song. To move the names around on future albums, to me says, yes, they are knocking Felder & Schmit down a notch. I don't want to give my opinion on this matter for fear of a huge backlash, so I will just keep it to myself....

[TimothyBFan]

Generally, the first name listed is the one who wrote most of the song, but the Eagles have changed the order of the writing credits on HC & they also did this on ICTYW, moving TBS name to the end, when it originally was listed first.

Again, something I have no knowledge of but wonder why they have moved their names around like that.

ETA: Just saw your last post TK---does make you wonder a bit, doesn't it.

[sodascouts]

With Lennon/McCartney there is some kind of legal agreement, which is why Yoko made such a fuss about it.

I did a little research, just for curiosity's sake, and it turns out there was no "set in stone" agreement - more of a "yeah, let's do it that way" agreement. At least, that's what McCartney claims according to the Daily Mail.

I doubt the Eagles have such agreement but we don't know for sure. Generally, name listed first wrote more of the song. To move the names around on future albums, to me says, yes, they are knocking Felder & Schmit down a notch.

That's what I think, too, but I always keep in mind that I don't know for sure. Certainly it appears that way, though.

[Topkat]

I did a little research, just for curiosity's sake, and it turns out there was no "set in stone" agreement - more of a "yeah, let's do it that way" agreement. At least, that's what McCartney claims according to the Daily Mail.

That's an interesting article, but it does say there was an "agreement" to do the names that way. Maybe it wasn't a legal document, but there was a pattern set, which upset Yoko when Paul tried to change it.....It's weird because there are songs that are just Paul's....I can see that he may want lead credit for it, but it's a touchy area, especially after so much time has passed.

[sodascouts]

Hmm, interesting. So what happens if there's disagreement about the credits?

Bad stuff, i'd imagine. Like lawsuits. Look what happened with Whiter Shade Of Pale

Ah yes! Fisher sued and received co-writing credit after 38 years. I wonder how one goes about proving such things?

I remember reading that a lawsuit was once brought against Stevie Nicks by a woman claiming to have written portions of "Sara." It was without merit, but Stevie still had to dig out proof that she had recorded a demo of the song before the plaintiff Carol Hinton had sent her song, also called "Sara," to Warner Brothers.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

What I find interesting is that besides the credits on the albums/CDs, there's what's recorded in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. They generally always put the inductee's name last, but not always. In almost every case for Henley, Glenn's name appears before his, and Felder's is listed first for HC (for both Don and Glenn). In almost every case for Glenn, Henley's name appears first.

What I can't figure out is the publisher. There are some credits for Don where Cass County isn't listed as a publisher, and in general where there is both Cass County and Red Cloud, Cass County is listed first.

Detailed song list for Don:
http://songwritershalloffame.org/ind...ailed/C127/P0/

Detailed song list for Glenn:
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org.../detailed/C129

[Freypower]

Some of Don's solo songs were published by Wisteria Music and before that Woody Creek Music. Cass County Music was for the Eagles before LROOE. His LROOE songs are listed under Privet Songs.

I would rather not assume that 'name listed first wrote more of the song' in the case of Henley/Frey. I think it is the same as Lennon/McCartney; 'let's do it this way'.

[sodascouts]

It's all quite confusing for Don Henley, especially since there are different publishers for different songwriters involved in the song and they are not in any particular order in the case of the Hall of Fame credits. Cass County Music was Don's publisher during his time in the Eagles until 1980. (Trivia: Cass County Music is named after the county where he grew up. I always think of that Texas county when I see the name. Eagles fans who use YouTube probably think of something else when they see the phrase "Cass County" though! )

At any rate, like many artists, Don published his solo music under a different umbrella - an umbrella which has changed several times. Therefore, the others are harder to sort out. Most recently, his publishing was transferred to Warner/Chappell, as detailed here. According to that article, they have been handling him since 1993, although apparently not always under that name. If one wanted to take the effort to do so, one could probably determine a timeline for his various publishers. I am not that person, however, lol.

With Glenn it's nice and straightforward. Since 1972 it's been Red Cloud all the way. There are a few exceptions: some songs that appear on soundtracks, as well as some of the songs co-written with JD (no periods please) Souther. Overall, though, Sugar keeps it simple!

FP - I'm sure I've read Glenn say the Henley/Frey name order was an informal agreement somewhere, but I can't recall it off the top of my head.

[sodascouts]

BTW, here are Don Felder's feelings about the name order change, in his words (see full article here):

"But I did want to say something about “Hotel California.” When I wrote that song and that track, and we put it on the album, on the original vinyl in 1976, the credits read, “ Hotel California,’ written by Don Felder, Don Henley and Glenn Frey.” And typically when songwriters write together, the person who wrote the most of that song is listed first, the person who wrote the second amount is listed second, and the person who wrote the least is listed third. If you look at the ’76 vinyl, that’s the credits. When we reformed in 1994, and we re-recorded “Hotel California,” which is, as far as I know, the only song recorded twice, by the same band, and has been nominated for Grammys both times. But on those credits, after I rearranged the whole track, wrote the introduction, wrote the solos, wrote everything, and Don Henley did nothing different from what he’d done before, and Glenn Frey added nothing to it in ’94, the credits read, “‘Hotel California,’ written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Don Felder.”

I couldn’t say anything publicly about it when I was in a band, but to me that’s the classic example of greed, power and control. Somebody who would seize something like that credit for themselves, to elevate themselves in history unfairly and unjustly over what they’d done – it’s a shame to me. But despite all of that small stuff, I didn’t care about that. The fact that I was able to write something that was part of being such a legendary hit means everything to me."

Coincidentally, Felder sued Glenn, Henley, and Azoff for $200 million on this day in 2001!